Tube-cleaner for steam-boilers



No. 625,24l. Patented May I6, I899. F. BOMMARiUS.

TUBE CLEANER FOB STEAM BOILERS.

\Application filed Nov. 16, 1898.) Modem 2 Sheets-$heet I.

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No. 625,24I. Patented May l6, I899. F. BUMMABIUS.

TUBE CLEANER FOB STEAM BOILERS.

[Application filed Nov. 18, 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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- UNTTED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

FREDERICK BOMMARIUS, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

TUB E-CLEAN ER FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,241, dated May 16, 1899.

Application filed November 16,1898. Serial no. 696,640. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK BOMMARIUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tube-Cleaners for Steam- Boilers, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to tube-cleaners for steam-boilers, and has for its object to provide a simple, durable, and efficient device for blowing jets of steam into the boiler tubes or flues for the purpose of clearing out or cleaning the same and which may be easily and quickly applied to the boiler and when so applied will accurately maintain its proper position relative to the boiler-tubes and will not leak.

To these ends my invention consists in the features and in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claim following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of the rear portion of a steam-boiler and furnace equipped with my improved steam-blower device; and Fig. 2 is a rear end view of the same. i

In the drawings I have shown myimproved device applied to a double cylindrical boiler; but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be applied equally as well to any well-known type of fire-tube boiler whether single or multiple.

Ileretofore in this class of inventions,wherein are employed a plurality of pipes or 11ozzles connected with a suitable source of steamsupply and arranged to deliver jets of steam into the boiler tubes for the purpose .of clearing or cleaning them out, it has been quite a common practice to provide a series of manifolds, each connected up with or coupled to a steam-supply pipe and eachiconnected with blower pipes or nozzles, the entire structure being formed of sections of steam-pipes screwed or othewise suitably coupled together. Several serious objections are attendant upon such construction. The devices are expensive to make, owing to the numerous joints, and consume much time and labor in assembling the parts. The nozzles or blowpipes are difficult to keep in proper alinement with the boiler-tubes, and owing to the expansion and contraction of the pipesections the apparatus is apt to leak at the joints. These objectionable features are avoided by means of my improved device, which I will describe.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the walls or brickwork of the furnace, 2 the boilers, 3 the boiler fire-tubes, and 4 the steam-drums, all constructed and arranged in a usual and well-known manner. The numeral 5 indicates the furnace-flue for leading the heat, gases, and products of combustion from the furnace fire-box to the rear end of the boiler-tubes 8, through which they are conducted and finally escape out through the smoke-stack in a-known manner. Firmly secured V to the rear wall of the boiler-furnace by tie-bolts 6 is what I denominate the pressure-plate. Said plate consists of a single fiat plate cast integral on its outer face, with a plurality of horizontal and parallel hollow ribs 8, closed at their outer ends and intersecting said hollow ribsintermediate their ends, and communicating with each of them is a similar, but slightly larger, hollow vertical rib 9, also closed at its opposite ends and intermediate its ends provided with a flanged and threaded aperture 10. As shown, the pressure-plate 7 when secured in position to the outer side of the rear Wall of the furnace is disposed opposite the tube area of the boiler and upon its rear or inner side is provided with a plurality of series of threaded apertures, each series of which communicates with one of the hollow ribs 8. Screwed-into said threaded apertures are jet-tubes composed of short pipe-sections 11, one for each boiler-tube, and fitted in the ends of said pipesections are nozzles 12. The rear wall of the furnace is provided with proper passages for the introduction of the jet-tube or pipe-sections 11, and when the pressure-plate is secured in place the pipesections project through the passages, each nozzle 12 terminatingin front of one of the boiler-tubes. Fitted in the threaded and flanged aperture 10 of the intersecting rib 9 is a valved steam-supply pipe 13. In the double-cylinder type of boiler shown the steam-pipes 13 are connected by pipes 14 to a steam-header 15, which in turn is connected by pipes 16 to each of the steamdrums 4.

As most clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the bottom or lower end of the inter secting hollow rib 9 of the steam pressureplate extends slightly below the lowermost horizontalrib 8, and fitted in the lower end of said intersecting rib 9 is a valved drainpipe 17, which may be conveniently led to the ash-pit of the furnace, by means of which water of condensation accumulating in the pressure-plate may be drawn 0%.

The operation of my improved device will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. Vhen the necessity arises, steam is admitted from the steam-drums into the intersecting rib 9 of the pressure-plate and from thence into the horizontal ribs from which latter it is discharged by the pipe-sections and nozzles into the rear ends of the boiler-tubes, through which the steam rushes violently, carrying with it all scale, soot, dust, and the like, thus effectually cleaning and clearing out the tubes. The plate 7 being cast in one integral piece with its distributing-ribs S and intersecting rib 9, there are no pipe-joints to be rendered leaky and insecure by the constant expanding and contracting of pipe-sections, which would inevitably occur every time the device was used.

The parts of the device are easily and quickly assembled, and when assembled the device is in like mannerv readily secured in place. Moreover, great strength and resistance against warping and contraction and expansion are obtained, and as a result thereof the nozzles will be permanently maintained in proper alinement with the ends of the boiler-tubes.

Having described my invention, what I claim isr p The combination with a. furnace structure having boiler-tubes, of a single fiat pressureplate secured against the furnace structure near the ends of the boiler-tubes and formed integral on the outer side with a plurality of hollow steam-distributing. ribs and a central hollow steam-supply rib having a steam connection and intersecting and communicating with said plurality of hollow ribs to supply steam thereto, a drain-pipe leading from the lower end of said intersecting hollow rib, and a series of jet-tubes extending from each of said steam-distributing ribs, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRE DERICK BOMMARIUS.

lVitnesses:

W. H. 0001:, M. O. FORSTALL. 

